Union chief charged with cocaine trafficking

By Brendan J. Lyons

Updated 10:31 pm, Friday, February 28, 2014

A Saratoga County sheriff's deputy was charged with cocaine trafficking on Friday after an FBI sting in which an undercover informant allegedly paid the deputy thousands of dollars in cash to drive him from Albany to Warren County to make drug deliveries.

Deputy Charles E. Fuller, 46, of Corinth, who is president of the Saratoga County Deputy Sheriff's Police Benevolent Association, was charged with attempting to aid the possession and distribution of more than 500 grams of cocaine in a federal complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court. Fuller appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge on Friday afternoon and is being held in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Monday.

Fuller has been employed by the sheriff's department since May 1988, records show.

The complaint states that Fuller, while off duty, agreed to drive an undercover FBI informant from Albany to Warren County on Feb. 19. The undercover informant was carrying 250 grams of "imitation" cocaine and $1,000 in marked currency that the FBI alleges was paid to Fuller.

The Feb. 19 delivery was arranged at a Jan. 24 meeting when Fuller and the informant set up the deal, according to the FBI.

At the Jan. 24 meeting, which was recorded by the FBI, the informant told Fuller "the amount of money you make ... would be substantial," the complaint states. "It would be like a once a week thing. I would be in the car holding the (drugs). You are just there to ensure my safety. ... Then, it comes up here and gets distributed."

Later on during that meeting, according to the FBI, the informant told Fuller "if I moved a kilo, at that point you'd get four grand."

Just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 19, Fuller arrived at an undisclosed location in Albany County driving a 2008 Infiniti. The informant got into Fuller's car and they drove north on Interstate 87 toward Warren County.

"You get four dollars a gram so we got like a quarter a key here so you got hooked up," the informant said, according to the federal complaint. "Here it is so where do you want it?"

Fuller dropped the informant in Warren County and left, court records state.

It's unclear how Fuller came to know the informant, whose criminal history includes a 2006 felony conviction and four misdemeanor convictions in 2000, 2006, 2007 and 2013, according to a federal complaint. Part of the evidence in the case includes phone records and "social messaging" exchanges between Fuller and the informant.

Earlier this week, the informant and Fuller allegedly agreed to make another drug delivery on Thursday. This time, according to the FBI, Fuller agreed to drive the informant from Albany to Warren County with a larger quantity of cocaine. The FBI said during the drive the informant showed Fuller what appeared to be a kilogram of cocaine. Just after 6 p.m. on Thursday, Fuller was paid $4,000 by the informant as he was dropped off in Warren County, the complaint states.

The informant used by the FBI has felony charges pending in Warren County and agreed to help the FBI in order to decrease his potential sentence. He has not been identified. The informant began working for the FBI after being sent back to jail for using cocaine in violation of a condition of release.

"This is a difficult day for law enforcement in Saratoga County and beyond," U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian said in a statement, adding that Fuller's behavior was a betrayal of the "citizens in the community that he is sworn to protect."

Sheriff Michael H. Zurlo, who was sworn in as sheriff two months ago, said federal authorities "kept me informed since when I took office. We'll deal with it."

Under federal statutes, Fuller faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million, law enforcement authorities said.